The Christmas Plan
by The May Waters
Summary: Tanaka forgoes his own chance at romance in the Christmas season to make sure that his best friend Nishinoya can have a chance at true love.


The Christmas Plan

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 **Summary: Tanaka forgoes his own chance at romance in the Christmas season to make sure that his best friend Nishinoya can have a chance at true love.**

"Of course I'm not going to tell him that I'm in love with him. How insane do you think I am?"

"But Noya," Tanaka Ryūnosuke complained. The bald teenager was propped up against the stylish doors of his house in the living room. The second year pair were meant to be studying for an upcoming Math test, but neither had started. Nishinoya Yū had a good handle on Math and he wasn't as worried about the exam as his best friend.

Instead of their studies, the two started flipping through magazines and their conversations turned to romantic interests. Tanaka, and his sister by default since she'd walked in on them discussing it once, was the only one who knew Nishinoya was gay. The libero didn't trust his team with the information since they lived in a small town that didn't accept modern political turnings. Saeko constantly told him that he needed to buck up and just admit it to his teammates since it would help build trust, but he didn't believe her. Noya had a feeling that it would foster the opposite and he wasn't willing to lose any friends over his sexual orientation.

"No 'but's', I'm not telling Asahi that I love him and that's that." Nishinoya laid himself across the floor like a starfish. His gelled hair pointed toward the wall Tanaka propped himself against. Noya closed his brown eyes and tried to ignore Tanaka's quiet whining that now Yū was being the wimp. "He has a glass heart Ryū."

"I know and most of the team is sure he's given that heart to you to take care of. You saw how broken he was after our final game last year, before he broke the broom." Ryū's voice drifted off as he brought up the painful memory.

"I can't dismiss the trust he's already put in me." Noya argued. "If I break his heart by confessing to him and he can't return my feelings, playing volleyball will be a nightmare."

"How do you break someone's heart by confessing to them? That'd certainly help to bolster pride."

"Does it?" Noya stretched out his arms for the volleyball next to Tanaka.

"I would think so. If Kiyoko-san confessed to me, I'd be really proud."

"That's because it's Kiyoko." Noya snorted. Ryū helped Noya hide his orientation from the team by playing up their fascination with the team manager Shimizu Kiyoko in front of everyone. "When are you planning on giving her a real and proper confession anyway?"

"We don't get to talk about my relationship issues with Kiyoko if we're not addressing your and Asahi's."

"Asahi and I don't have a relationship issue. We're friends."

"Deep in the bullshit today I see." Tanaka's monotone voice made Noya look up at him.

"It's not bullshit Ryū. We are friends right now. Being friends isn't an issue."

"It is when one of you wants to fuck the other person."

"I'd actually rather that he-"

"Don't finish that sentence." Tanaka took a deep breath. "I just want you to be happy Noya and Asahi will be graduating and going to University. If you don't confess to him now he may never know. I don't want you to regret not telling him twenty years down the road."

"I won't regret it because he'll be happy married with some pretty woman and have cute kids that call me uncle."

"When they could be calling you dad?"

"I'm done talking about this." Nishinoya rolled onto his side so he faced away from his friend. Tanaka saw his shoulders shake as his body betrayed him with tears. He felt bad for pushing his friend, but he knew for sure that Noya wouldn't be happy if he wasn't with Asahi in the end.

-oOo-

"Kiyoko-san," Tanaka spoke quietly the next day when he approached the third year classrooms.

"Tanaka-san?" Shimizu Kiyoko turned, surprised by his mellow personality. Her black hair swung around her face and the beauty mark moved with her lips as they tilted into a frown. "Is something wrong?"

"A little bit." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Are you close with Asahi?"

"Mm," she paused to think. "Yeah, we're all third years together."

"Do you know if he's interested in anyone romantically?"

"Are you asking for yourself?"

"What? No, no, no." Tanaka laughed. "I actually want to set up a friend with him, but I don't know if he's already interested in someone."

"Have you asked Azumane yourself?"

"I think my friend might kill me if I ask him directly."

"It doesn't hurt to try. You're thinking through this rationally since you're talking to me calmer than normal." Kiyoko laughed quietly and Tanaka's face turned red. "Who are you trying to set Azumane up with?"

"I can't tell you, I was sworn to confidentiality."

"I don't know if I can really help you, then." Her frown deepened. "Why are you trying to get them together?"

"I want this person to be happy. I don't want them to regret anything from high school and since Asahi is a third year, it feels like no or never."

"So you're sacrificing yourself, perhaps even your relationship with this person to give them a chance with Azumane?"

"Yeah." Tanaka breathed out slowly. "They'll probably hate me, considering how they acted when I tried to push them to confess, but I know it hurts them to think about Asahi-san with anyone else."

"Who am I with?" Azumane Asahi stepped out of classroom 3-3 and Tanaka swallowed hard. Asahi looked like he hadn't heard much of the conversation. His brunet hair was falling from the man bun on the back of his head and Ryū had a feeling that Nishinoya would be growing gradually redder if he was present.

"N-no one." Tanaka stammered.

Asahi glanced between Tanaka and Kiyoko. "I'm going to get some food from the cafeteria, either of you want anything?"

"We're fine Azumane-san." Shimizu gently waved him off. Once the pair were sure that Asahi was out of range, she turned back to Tanaka. "It's Nishinoya, isn't it?"

"I-I, I-uh, what?" He quickly tried to cover.

"It's not that hard to tell that he sees me as more of a close friend than a romantic interest Tanaka-san. I think that Noya might have a good shot with Azumane."

"You'll help me then?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"I hadn't thought that far ahead actually."

"Ryū you traitor!" They heard someone yell from down the hall. Both of them turned to see a short teenager dodging students as he charged down the hall. He jumped onto Tanaka's back and nearly tumbled them both to the floor. "How dare you visit Kiyoko-san without me!"

"Sorry Noya, I was bringing some notes by that I borrowed from her classmate." He recovered the situation. Asahi appeared at the end of the hall again. "And don't run in the halls, you'll get suspended from volleyball again."

"How are you doing today Kiyoko-san?" Noya asked as he swung down from his best friend.

"Thank you, Tanaka-san. I'll be sure to give the notes back when they return to school." She turned and walked into the classroom.

"Failed to woo Shimizu again?" Asahi asked. His smile looked fake to Tanaka. Nishinoya didn't look at the ace and when Ryū glanced to his friend, he could tell that the teen was having a hard time holding himself together.

"Something like that." He turned and put a huge smile on his face. "We'll see you at practice later, right?"

"Of course."

"Come on Ryū, we got to get back to our classes before we're late." The libero grabbed Tanaka by his wrist and pulled him down the hall.

"Whoa, slow down Noya."

"You should ask him out." Kiyoko peeked her head out of the classroom again before Asahi could walk away.

"What are you talking about?" The gentle giant started shifting between his two feet, unsure of which one to leave the pressure on. Shimizu rolled her eyes and vanished back into the classroom.

"Hey Asahi," Daichi stopped him before he walked into his classroom.

"Everyone is stopping me today. You aren't going to tell me to ask out Noya too, are you?" His shoulders dropped.

"I wasn't going to, but now that you mention it, it's not a bad idea."

"At this rate I'm going to have to skip practice because I'll be too nervous to move." Azumane pressed his head against the wall next to the room marked 3-3.

"I originally planned to ask you if you wanted to help the rest of the third years plan a Christmas Party for the team. Takeda-sensei and Suga have already agreed. I still need to ask Shimizu. Are you in?"

"Sure, sounds like fun." The ace agreed.

"We'll make sure there's plenty of mistletoe available too." Daichi winked at him.

 _This is how I die_ , Asahi decided.

-oOo-

Kiyoko slipped into the clubroom once the boys left for practice. She was under the guise of filling up water bottles for practice and it gave her the opportunity to pass along a message to Tanaka. She found his things and slipped a leaf of notebook paper into it that was clearly labeled on both sides, ' _Don't read in front of Nishinoya_ '. She hoped the libero wouldn't spot the paper before Tanaka.

After practice, Ryūnosuke did see the note and he shoved it deep into his bag before Noya could spot it. At home, he took the opportunity to read the mysterious letter. It took several minutes to calm himself down after he saw Kiyoko's name on the page. He was too wrapped up in her signature on something for him, which prohibited him from comprehending the message she'd written.

 _Tanaka-san,_

 _Third years are planning a Christmas party. With mistletoe. One bunch will be hung in the equipment room. I hope you know what to do._

 _Shimizu Kiyoko_

He _did_ know what to do. Noya might never forgive him though – if things didn't go according to plan.

-oOo-

With Daichi's help, Kiyoko and the captain managed to get Asahi into the storage room. Once he was in, they sent Tanaka and the signal and he shoved Nishinoya in so that he stumbled and fell to the hard concrete floor. The doors banged shut revealing a flashlight in the middle of the room shinning up at a plant hanging from the ceiling. _Mistletoe_.

"Ryū!" Noya yelled. He jumped up and started pounding on the door. "I'm going to fucking kill you when I get out of here. You're a fucking traitor. Open this fucking door right now."

"Noya?" Asahi asked quietly from behind him. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Tanaka is being a dick and he apparently got help." Nishinoya growled.

"Why'd they put mistletoe in here?" Azumane asked quietly. Noya turned to see him staring up at the plant. The libero didn't honor the ace with a response. Instead, he kicked the door hard and shook out his numbed foot. "Hey Noya?"

"What?" Yū asked lowly. He turned his sharp, brown eyes on the taller player and Asahi flinched back.

"Why would the team lock us in here together with mistletoe?"

"You expect me to have an answer for that?" Noya snapped.

"I know why Daichi and Shimizu would've thrown me in here on my end." He paused. "I get the feeling that you know why Tanaka would put you in here, but I don't know that reason."

"What's your reason then?" Noya pulled away from the door and threw himself onto a few blue safety mats stacked against the right wall.

"I don't know if I can say."

"Then why bring the topic up?"

"It's not the kind of thing that you can just talk about, but it's always there." Asahi crossed the small space and grabbed Nishinoya by his shirt. "How am I supposed to just come out in front of everyone and tell you that I'm in love with you?"

Their eyes widened and Asahi quickly dropped Noya's shirt and scampered to the other side of the room.

"You're in love with me?" His voice was quiet, but it carried across the enclosed space. Yū stood and took slow steps across the storage room.

"I-I," Asahi wasn't sure what to say.

He pressed his back against the wall and slowly slid down it; his eyes were trained on the floor. Azumane felt warm fingertips against his cheek and he looked up. He didn't have time to take in Noya's expression before the libero kissed him. The ace leaned into the kiss and Yū's body collapsed into Asahi's.

"What are you doing?" Asahi asked quietly.

"Making use of that stupid mistletoe." Noya pressed a few more soft kisses against the third year's mouth before pulling back. "I'm in love with you too. Ryū's been annoying me trying to get me to confess."

"How long do you think we're going to be in here?" Azumane whispered. He placed a hand on the side of Nishinoya's face and pulled him forward for a few more hungry kisses.

"No idea," Yū breathed between kisses. The door clicked and started to slide open. The two teenagers jumped away from each other and the sudden light illuminated the figures of Tanaka and Kiyoko.

"Still hate me?" Tanaka asked nervously. Noya answered by charging his best friend and tackling him to the ground so that they were wrestling.

-oOo-

Once the party was over, the new couple headed home together. They tried and failed to make the gesture look casual.

"That was a pretty impressive plan." Tanaka complimented Kiyoko as they made their way to the school gate. "I'm glad it worked out for them. I've seen Noya cry over his feelings too often."

"I'm glad too, Azumane-san looks happy."

"Thanks for joining me on this crazy venture. I promise to be back to normal tomorrow." Ryū smiled at the manager.

"No problem, Tanaka-san." Kiyoko gave him a warm smile. He made to turn in the opposite direction from her to head home, but a hand on his bicep stopped him. Tanaka turned in surprise and his dark grey eyes met her light grey pair. He was captivated. Shimizu leaned in quickly and pressed a kiss to his cheek before she turned away. "Good work today."

* * *

 **I finished it on time! I had to scrap my original idea and was worried that I wouldn't complete this by Christmas. Hopefully you all enjoyed my 2017 Christmas themed fanfic. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for all of those that might be celebrating something different. Here's to looking forward to 2018, which will be my sixth year on FFN, and all of the fics to come in the new year.**


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